


A Piercing Feeling

by treepyful (treeperson)



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, M/M, Nipple Piercings, Piercings, Pre-Relationship, Queer Feelings, finding oneself via body mods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29371548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treeperson/pseuds/treepyful
Summary: Patrick had been running late that morning and forgot to put on an undershirt under his button up, and while that wasn't exactly the end of the world, it did mean that he was pretty sure he knew what David was staring at.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 68
Kudos: 251





	A Piercing Feeling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Januarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Januarium/gifts).



> I wrote this about a month ago for a prompt and it’s been on my mind ever since, so I decided to toss it up here for a little more permanence and accessibility.
> 
> Unbetaed, etc.

They were two days away from opening when it happened.

The first time David's eyes landed on Patrick's chest and paused, Patrick noticed but assumed he'd just spilled something on his shirt. When he surreptitiously looked down and saw nothing, he put it down to David expressing his distaste for his clothing. But then it happened three more times before lunch and Patrick eventually put two and two together; he'd been running late that morning and forgot to put on an undershirt under his button up, and while that wasn't exactly the end of the world, it did mean that he was pretty sure he knew what David was staring at. The thought sent a thrill down his spine.

He'd gotten the piercing when he was twenty-one, in his last year of university, and on yet another break from Rachel. The idea had come to him while drunk and a little high, sprawled on the cat-scratched couch in the living room of his rented house with his equally drunk and a little high roommates. Ben, who was the best goalie Patrick had ever had the privilege of playing on a team with, had his right ear pierced twice over and the little studs had snagged the attention of Patrick's intoxicated brain. They had caught the light when Ben laughed and moved, sparkling despite being a matte gunmetal grey, and Patrick hadn't been able to shake his fascination. _I could do that_ , he'd thought in a moment of clarity. _I could get a piercing._ It had felt weirdly good to entertain the concept, and the more he’d thought on it, the more certain he'd been that he'd do it.

He didn't actually do it for another month. Midterms had hit like a freight train and Patrick lived in the library for a few weeks, surviving off sketchy subs from the cafeteria and diet Cokes from the vending machine. But when he’d finished his last midterm, there was none of the usual release of tensions. Instead, he'd been agitated and twitchy and almost hyperventilating with how closed in he felt, how trapped. His graduation date was looming — a semester and a half left — and then he was supposed to move on to the next stage of his life: find a job, meet a girl (Rachel?), get married, buy a house, have kids. He’d never felt less in control of his own life. Then he’d remembered his drunk-and-a-little-high thoughts, latched on to the inkling of freedom they hinted at, and made a few calls.

When the piercer had asked what he wanted to get done, Patrick blanked. An earring would be so... public. People would see it. That was too much. But in that moment, he knew he needed something or else he might actually just run away to Ibiza and that was _definitely_ too much.

"Nipple," he'd said, surprising himself. The piercer had raised her eyebrows and given him a quick up-and-down, and Patrick had known he'd made the right choice. Little Patty Brewer: straight-A student, varsity jock, altar boy, eagle scout, and new owner of one extremely sore nipple.

Getting the piercing had been a spur of the moment desperation move, but it had settled something in him that he hadn't really understood. He'd had a deep yearning to do something that people didn't think he would do, that wasn't what people expected of him based on what they thought they knew. The piercing helped. It helped him breathe, knowing that he had a secret most people wouldn't guess, knowing that he was fooling everyone just by existing with a nipple piercing while wearing his button ups and his sensible hair and his smile.

In the years since he’d gotten it, there'd only been a few people who had noticed his new addition — Rachel, a couple guys in the changing room, his cousin Deanna, Ben himself — but the double-take that had happened each time had lit Patrick up inside like nothing else ever had. _Not what you were expecting, is it?_ , he'd think, slightly vindictively but mostly with an intense feeling of joy. _Not what I appear to be, am I?_

(In retrospect, maybe Patrick's gay revelation hadn't really been a revelation as much as it had been a pivot on some ideas he'd been harbouring for almost a decade.) (Maybe he was still kinda kicking himself in the pants for not realising that earlier.)

But here was the latest person to notice and the feeling of being seen was different this time, more exciting, more vivid. The way David's gaze kept tracking to Patrick's nipple — which was definitely more visible sans undershirt than it usually was — made Patrick’s breath catch in his throat, and he knew he was going to have a few feelings to work through later that night. Right now, however, he sensed the perfect opportunity to fluster his business partner-slash-friend.

"Hey David." David looked up, wide-eyed and clearly startled. "My eyes are up here."

The noise of embarrassed outrage that emerged from David's throat had Patrick laughing for the rest of the day.


End file.
